The Truth about PC Gaming

Battlefield 4 being played on a gaming PC.

PC gaming is a wonderful thing. Many people aren’t familiar with the PC gaming experience. PC gaming is a very diverse community and is for everybody. Now, don’t get me wrong, consoles are great and fuel the gaming industry, but PC gaming gives you the full experience every time.

The greatest asset of PC gaming is the replayability. Mods are what drive the PC community. A mod is a modification to a game. They are created by the users of the game and have nothing to do with the people that made the game. Mods can include plenty of things, including new game modes, better graphics, like texture packs and lighting packs, and basically anything you could possibly think of.

When you finish a game it doesn’t end there. There is always a mod that changes the game into something different. This can completely change the game and usually does so for the better. Games like Skyrim and Fallout are great games. However, on PC these games are ten times better. If you were mad that you never got to ride a dragon, then a mod can change that. Just download the mod and you can ride dragons like any other trusty steed. Better yet why not actually be a dragon? Well with PC gaming you can do that too. None of this can be done on consoles. When you finish the game on a console you are left to any unfinished quests or to just wait till the next DLC comes out. The modding community on PC makes a game last years. The game never loses its fun because there is always something new being made for it everyday by regular people. Would you rather wander meaninglessly throughout Tamriel on your Xbox or turn yourself into a Giant Chicken and kill a mammoth on a PC? The possibilities are endless.

PC games are cheaper than console games. On PC, most games start out at $50 instead of the usual $60 price tag. Also, most games that are just for PC are even cheaper than that and are usually under $30. A PC may be expensive but if you add up all the money you have paid for games on your console, you have probably surpassed the money spent by a PC gamer on their PC and all their games combined.

PC has more games to select from. Not only are all the games on consoles also for PC, but there are also plenty of other games to choose from. It is extremely easy for Indie developers to get their games on the Steam marketplace. This means that there a lot of unique and inexpensive games to play. These games are extremely cool, and offer players a new experience, other than the usual shooter with another cliche storyline. These games usually try something new and are usually more about telling a story. Games like “Gone Home” and “Dear Esther” where all you do is walk around. In “Dear Esther” you walk around an island that you have mysteriously washed up on. You can’t run, you can only walk, and you have flashbacks of a mysterious car accident as you wander the island in search of a way off.

The Steam marketplace is the the most highly used marketplace for PC gamers. Steam is a Digital distribution, digital rights management, multiplayer, and community platform developed by Valve Corporation. Not only can you buy all your games on it but you also have a friends list, forums, all of your games, and a community of other mostly friendly gamers. It’s basically Xbox Live or the Playstation Network, but for your PC.

There are a lot of things that are falsely believed about PC gaming. First, you can use a controller. Just because it’s a computer doesn’t mean you can’t plug in a controller to your USB port. Many people prefer the controller over the keyboard and mouse when it comes to some games on the PC. The keyboard and mouse offers supreme precision and accuracy when it comes to shooters, and plenty of other games that require precise clicks like League of Legends and other strategy games. However, sometimes the keyboard can be a tad clunky here and there when trying to press a certain key quickly. Obviously you would never play a sports game or a racing game with your keyboard, but basically every other kind of game is just a matter of preference.

And finally, PC’s do have better graphics and perform better than consoles. They are also upgradeable. This means that when it is no longer performing well and the games you are playing aren’t looking as great as they used to, you can just buy a new graphics card, instead of being stuck with the same console for 8 years. You never have to deal with a new generation of consoles, and the games you bought 10 years ago, still work and will work forever. Unlike consoles where only PS4 games work with PS4’s and Xbox 360 games only work with Xbox 360’s and so on.